Thursday, December 31, 2009

A culturally enriched gunman named Ibrahim Shkupolli shot and killed five people today at a shopping mall in Finland, and then killed himself. The motive, at least at the start of his rampage, appears to have been jealousy, since the first victim was the shooter’s ex-girlfriend, and her boyfriend was one of the later victims.

I’ve included a lot of detailed material below, some in English, some in translation. The perp is alleged to be an illegal immigrant from Kosovo — make sure you scroll down to read some of VH’s material, especially the tantalizing hint of a KLA connection.

Every MSM story about the incident that I have seen so far focuses obsessively on the single issue that the elites consider important, and which resurfaces after any incident of this type: gun control. Finland has a firearms culture, controls are lax, there has been an alarming increase in gun crime recently, etc blah yak. That’s their story and they’re sticking to it. I chopped most of that kind of bumf out of the articles — you can take my word for it; it all sounded the same.

However, it’s notable that — as is usual in such cases — the killer had previously been guilty of firearms offenses, and had no qualms about breaking gun laws. In other words, new gun-control laws would have no effect on the likes of Ibrahim Shkupolli.

Police describe shooter as Ibrahim Shkupolli, a man in his early 40s; Sello shopping mall evacuated and cordoned off

Six people have been reported dead on Thursday morning in a shooting incident that took place at the Sello shopping mall in the Leppävaara district of Espoo.

Apparently a man in his early forties, whose identity is known to police, began shooting in the Prisma supermarket with a 9mm handgun at around 10 a.m. Police named the suspect as Ibrahim Shkupolli.

First reports indicated that three men and one woman were killed. A fifth victim was later found at a private apartment in Leppävaara, and is believed to be the gunman’s 42-year-old ex-girlfriend.

She was employed at the Prisma supermarket in Sello, and is thought to have been the primary target.

A restraining order had earlier been imposed on Shkupolli with regard to this woman.

The search continued for the gunman, and his body was eventually found a couple of hours later at an apartment in the Suvela district of Espoo. Indications are that he shot himself.

All of the victims at Sello were apparently members of the sales staff. One man was shot twice in the head. A woman was shot in the stomach and two other men were shot on a different floor of the mall complex, one of the largest in the Greater Helsinki area.

The male victims in the mall were born in 1969, 1975, and 1982. The woman was born in 1964.

No further details were given of other casualties.

The mall was emptied and police continued the search for the gunman in the shopping centre and the surrounding area, before extending the net to known addresses, where the man’s body was eventually discovered.

Prisma store staff and witnesses were taken to the public library on the premises.

The police held a press conference on the matter at 14:30, after a photograph of the suspect had been released to the media before the man was found dead.

Police had warned Shkupolli was armed and dangerous. He had previous convictions for firearms offences in 2004 and 2007.

Numerous police vehicles and ambulances attended the scene, and for some hours commuter trains were not stopping at Leppävaara station.

Police were not particularly forthcoming with details of the killings, or of whether others were hit by gunfire, but the impression given was that the primary target was the 42-year-old woman, and it is known that those killed in the shopping mall were her colleagues.

Whilst no specific reason has been given for why they were singled out by the gunman, the indications are that this horrible tragedy was not a “shooting-spree” killing of the kind that has made Finland internationally known in the past two years, following school massacres in Jokela and Kauhajoki by disaffected teenage pupils.

Nonetheless, it will inevitably reopen old wounds and will prompt further discussion on the large number of handguns owned in this country and on the tightening of restrictions on access to firearms

Police have released the name and photograph of the suspect in the shooting at the Sello shopping mall in Espoo on Thursday.

The suspect is Espoo resident Ibrahim Shkupolli, who is believed to be armed and dangerous. He was born in 1966 and has lived in Finland for some time.

The suspect was convicted of assault in 2001, and of firearms offences in 2004 and 2007. He has also had a restraining order put against him.

Police are asking that those with more information on the events would call 071 873 8250.

Shkupolli was discovered dead in an apartment in Espoo in the early afternoon. It is believed he took his own life.

Our Danish correspondent TB (who supplied most of the tips for this post) says that Ekstra Bladet reports that the shooter was an Albanian Kosovar illegal immigrant.

Also from the Danish media: after the shooting, the Finnish chief of police stated that the big issue is integration, according to DR (translated by TB):- - - - - - - - -

Chief of Police: it’s all about integration

The Finnish inspector, Mikko Paatero, says that the tragedy in a shopping center near Helsinki shows that even in Finland anything can happen anywhere at any time.

In Finland guns are widespread but the chief of police does not think that the drama in Esbo raises the question whether weapons should be legal or not. It is more about the integration of immigrants and generally about how people adapt to society he explains.

“We have to be very thorough when deciding which asylum seekers who can be allowed to stay in Finland,” says Paatero in connection with the information that the perpetrator is not a Finnish citizen.

“I do not know whether he had tried to get a Finnish citizenship. But if he has why did he not get it?” says the question from the police inspector.

Shooting can damage peoples feeling of security

Paatero thinks that the bloody shooting that hit innocent bystanders and employees could have a negative influence on the Finns’ feeling of security, but he hope that the effect will only be temporary.

He thinks that the Finnish police have need to better inform the public and prevent further tragedies.

Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated an article about the incident from De Telegraaf:

Bloodbath in shopping mall in Finland

Muslim shooter in Finland is found dead

HELSINKI — The man who shot four people in a shooting in a shopping mall in the Finnish city Espoo [map] had probably killed his ex-wife several hours earlier. The offender, Ibrahim Shkupolli, was found dead.

Police in Finland have found the body of the 43-year-old man who is suspected of killing five people. Shkupolli has committed suicide, Finnish police report.

The shooting in the mall happened at around nine thirty in the morning in Espoo, a city of some 230,000 people west of the capital Helsinki. The black-clad Shkupolli suddenly started shooting around him, thereby killing three men and a woman.

Eyewitnesses stated that the offender killed a salesclerk in the electronics department by shooting two bullets into his head. The police suspects that jealousy was the motive for the murders. Ibrahim Shkupolli had in the past been convicted for abusing his ex-wife.

The man would also emptied the cartridge of a machine gun in the shop. He then fled amid shoppers, who were panicked by the shooting. The mall is closed and public transport is diverted.

Ex-wife found dead

The man, who was born in Kosovo, has probably also killed his ex-wife. The police reported Thursday a few hours after the shooting in a supermarket that the body of the woman was found in a house in Espoo, a suburb of Helsinki. The woman was probably the first victim of the offender. Later he went to the supermarket in Espoo, and at once shot another four people dead.

VH also includes this very intriguing post about a possible link to the KLA and Muslim terrorists:

Klevius translation: Ibrahim Shkupolli is a UCK/KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army — i.e. Muslim terrorists) veteran. He killed 32 Serb civilians in the Qela village in 1997. Also fought against Serb police. He is wanted in Serbia already since 1995.

(CNN) — A black-clad gunman believed to have killed five people in busy shopping mall near Helsinki has been found dead, Finnish police said Thursday.

Police named the suspected gunman, who opened fire at a grocery store in the Sello shopping center in the town of Espoo, as Ibrahim Shkupolli, a 43-year-old said to have lived in Finland “for some time.”

Police said the shooting happened shortly after 10:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. ET), leaving three men and one woman dead. Media reports said a fifth victim, a woman, was found at an apartment in Espoo.

The mall was thronged with shoppers when the gunman started shooting at a grocery store inside the mall, said Mika Pettersson, editor-in-chief of Finnish news agency STT.

“People saw a gunman, calm, walking out of the grocery store after shooting,” he said. “People first thought it was fireworks that had been exploding, but after they realized what had happened, there was a panic.”

State broadcaster YLE said the gunman used a 9mm handgun.

Initial reports that the gunman was still inside the mall were now unconfirmed, Pettersson said, and the gunman’s whereabouts were unclear.

There are rumors that the gunman was motivated by jealousy because of a relationship, reporter Pout Anan, from CNN affiliate MTV3, told CNN. Police did not immediately confirm a motive.

Restaurant manager Naresh Gaonkar, who runs the Intialainen Ravintola Curry Palace across the street from the mall, told CNN there were police helicopters overhead and many police cars driving past with armed officers.

Trains going through Espoo were stopped because of the shooting, Gaonkar said.

Employees of the grocery store where the attack happened were evacuated so quickly that they didn’t have time to put on their winter wear, Anan reported. They were waiting outside in T-shirts in temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius, or 14 degrees Fahrenheit, he said.

Finnish police have confirmed they have found the body of a gunman responsible for killing five people in a shooting rampage in the southern city of Espoo.

Investigators said 43-year-old Ibrahim Shkupolli shot dead three men and a woman with a 9mm pistol at a grocery shop inside the Sello shopping centre.

One of the shop’s employees, reportedly Mr Shkupolli’s ex-girlfriend, was later found dead at a flat in the city.

The incident is Finland’s third major shooting in the past two years.

Thursday’s bloodshed reportedly broke out at about 1008 local time (0808 GMT) inside the Prisma grocery store, on the second floor.

A witness told Finland’s state broadcaster, YLE, that the gunman appeared to have opened fire at random.

The victims were aged 27, 40, 42 and 45, and worked at the shopping centre, police said.

Another witness said chaos had ensued after the shots were heard.

“There were loads of people who were crying, and many vendors who were completely panicked,” the witness told Finnish radio.

The gunman was later seen walking towards another shop.

A fifth victim, a Prisma employee identified by YLE as Mr Shkupolli’s ex-girlfriend, was later found dead at a flat on the outskirts of Espoo. Investigators said the killing was believed to have had a “domestic” motive, and that there had been a restraining order in place against Mr Shkupolli.

When police then went to Mr Shkupolli’s flat, they found his body.

“The four victims in the shopping centre were, in a way, outsiders. It looks like the incident is linked to the fifth victim,” Chief Inspector Jukka Kaski told a news conference.

“She seems to have been the gunman’s main target and the whole shooting is tied up with the relationship between her and the gunman,” he added.

The Sello centre remains cordoned off, and trains are not stopping at the local railway station. Ambulances and police are still outside.

The body of a man who shot dead four people in a shopping centre after killing his ex-girlfriend has been found in an apartment on the outskirts of Helsinki.

Ibrahim Shkupolli, 43, killed his former partner before apparently hunting down her lover at the shopping mall where he worked.

He took out a 9mm pistol and started shooting early this morning as shoppers stocked up on food and drink for the new year holiday at the Prisma supermarket on the second floor of a mall in Espoo, a large town close to the capital Helsinki.

His body was found at his apartment in a suburb of Helsinki shortly after his ex-girlfriend was found dead in a house in Espoo. Police believe her killing had a domestic motive.

It is thought the woman worked in the mall where Shkupolli embarked on his rampage, and that he was subject to a restraining order.

“At first we thought it must have been a new year’s rocket that had been set off by mistake,” said one of the scores of shoppers who were evacuated from the supermarket when the gunman took flight.

Jyrkky Kallio, a local police chief, said there were hundreds of people in the mall at the time of the shooting.

One male victim had been shot twice in the head, said Stefan Soederstroem, head of Espoo police. It is believed that he was the lover of the gunman’s ex-girlfriend.

Altogether, four people appear to have been killed at the mall — three men and a female shop assistant who was shot in the stomach.

After the shootings, police launched a manhunt for Shkupolli, issuing a picture of the suspect and advising people not to attempt to overpower him. They were able to narrow down the prime suspect relatively quickly on the basis of witness testimony.

His name appears to be of Kosovan-Albanian origin and police said he was not born in Finland.

I’d like to offer special thanks to TB and VH, who rushed out their translated material on this story in record time.

6
comments:

The problem isn't integration, it's that he's there. Why don't they never start with making the case properly? If he wouldn't be there, just like most of the Muslims in Europe, we'd have no problems with integrating. For example, I'm glad my country needs work visas for the UK, while we are EU members and I never heard bad things about ethnic Romanians(not the other people who hold Romanian citizenship). Obviously, in the meanwhile, the UK is importing Pakistanis. lol

Klevius translation: Ibrahim Shkupolli is a UCK/KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army — i.e. Muslim terrorists) veteran. He killed 32 Serb civilians in the Qela village in 1997. Also fought against Serb police. He is wanted in Serbia already since 1995.

Any bets that Ibrahim Shkupolli may have been facing the death penalty for his crimes back in Serbia?

[crickets]

I wonder how much more mayhem and slaughter European citizens will have to endure before they realize that it may not be the best policy to provide asylum for criminals who face the death penalty in their countries of origin.

Admitting a wolf into the fold because the hunters are closing in on him goes beyond stupid. Oppposition to the death penalty is one thing but refusing to recognize that another country may have very good reasons for imposing such a punishment and that the person in question may well be quite guilty of those charges against him is another matter entirely.

The same thing applies with respect to providing asylum for Islamic terrorists who face rigorous interrogation or capital punishment at home even as they then continue plotting new atrocities while under the protection of their suicidal patrons. It would be much wiser to object from afar rather than try to lead by example and accommodate psychotic mass murderers for the sake of some vague sense of moral superiority.

The ghastly price tag attached to such thoroughly misplaced moral arbiting is a crime against the indigenous population that is forced to accept such criminals into their midst. Such lunacy is no different from that of liberal judges who, hoping to demonstrate that incorrigible criminals can be rehabilitated, continue to release vicious repeat offenders back into civilized society.

Worst of all is that both politicians and judicial officials alike, who so often live in their gated enclaves, bear little risk of having to encounter the habitual predators and migratory psychotics they bill and coo over in their liberal wet dreams of impossibly peaceful multicultural globalism.

Only when they, too, finally begin to feel the lash which they so cheerfully impose upon us, the Great Unwashed™, will the ill-thought-out nature of their ham-fisted social engineering begin to dawn upon them. The sooner the better, I say.

I'm quite sure this shooter has done all the intergrating he was interested in(his girl friend was a native Fin.). He would have gotten a gun whatever the law was--more gun restrictions will simply restrict law-abiding citizens from owning guns and give the bad guys a better crack at them.

Well, the rest of Europe is mad at countries like Finland and Switzerland that haven't totally lost their minds on the gun issue. They want them to change their minds. A criminal from a foreign country shouldn't have been allowed access to the nation.

The correct answer here? Two things: limit immigration. One of the most obvious criteria: cannot be a felon in your homeland.

Two:Allow CCW licensing, and open carrry in the manner of many American states, and some Central American nations.